


Heat

by birdeedee



Category: Andromeda Six (Visual Novel)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Fluff and Smut, I'll add tags as I update, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Porn With Plot, Shameless Smut, Sick Character, Swearing, it's not a sick fic but the driving force is sickness
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-12
Updated: 2020-05-06
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:48:05
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23617768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/birdeedee/pseuds/birdeedee
Summary: While visiting Teranium to acquire spare parts, Traveler finds herself in a situation she wasn’t expecting - sick with an unknown illness she got from a random alley lady that suddenly has her deepest, most inappropriate, thoughts about her crew mates bubbling up to the surface.
Relationships: Ayame Ikeda/Traveler, Calderon Lynch/Traveler, Damon Reznor/Traveler, Juniper Nyux/Traveler, Ryona Mi'haden/Traveler, Sebastian Ilahaj/Traveler
Comments: 15
Kudos: 67





	1. Actions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is just the introduction chapter, so no smut just yet. But just you wait ;)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there!  
> So, I tried to keep the traveler as gender neutral as possible for as long as I could, but there is one part at the beginning that is geared more towards a feminine character. The following chapters will feature a female traveler because, as this is my first time writing fanfic (and smut) I just think it'll be written better if I do it from a female perspective. I know that's kind of the default for fanfic in general, and I'm sorry for that, but in the future I'll try my hardest to keep things neutral for any fluff pieces I write!

The blistering sun beat down on the crew of the Andromeda Six relentlessly as they made their way back to the beloved ship they called home. Teranium’s weather was especially unpleasant for the seven as they had spent the entire day sifting through spare parts half a mile away from where the ship was docked, the sweat causing each crew members clothes to cling to their bodies uncomfortably. You, particularly, were the worst looking of the bunch. The thick, baggy coveralls you had been stuck with since June had found you did nothing to relieve you from the heat and, even if you couldn’t remember who you were, you were pretty sure you didn’t do heavy manual labour on the daily before you joined A6. The clothes had gotten so bad you had had to roll the shirt portion of the coveralls down to expose the sports bar you had luckily chosen to wear that day. The action had caused more than a few eyes to stray from the task at hand, but you reacted as eloquently as anyone being gawked at by several extremely hot and sweaty persons would. 

You barked out the first brash comment about ‘keeping your eyes up here’ that came to your head and went back to work. 

As you slowly started to trail behind the crew, something caught your eye in one of the side alleys of the street you were on. It took a moment for your eyes to adjust to the dark shade of the alleyway, but as you squinted to get a better look at what it was you found what looked to be someone curled up on the ground, clutching their sides painfully. You quickly looked to the advancing group in front of you, confident you could find your way back to the ship if you were to lose them. It took only a second for you to make up your mind as you darted into the alley way and crouched besides the figure in pain. 

The body in front of you was trembling, a raggedy black robe covering any significant traits you could use to identify them. There wasn’t much you could do for them at the moment as the person was facing away from you, towards the wall of one of the buildings that made up the side of the alley. You couldn’t help but notice the immense heat that radiated off of the shriveled up form, which only further deepened your worry for them.

“Hey-hey are you okay?” you tried to put on your best sympathetic voice as you gently laid a hand on the person’s side. They let out a wanton moan the moment you laid your hands on them, causing you to reel back for fear you had accidentally hurt them.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry. Are you hurt?” you blurted out in panic, looking around widely for someone to notice the both of you and offer aid. You didn’t even notice the way the woman shifted to face towards you, murmuring softly as she weakly reached out in your direction.

“No… no, please,” the murmuring finally reached your ears, alerting you to the shift in tone. She sounded so desperate and, as you got a better look at her uncovered face, her cheeks were red and blotchy, her eyes glazed over slightly. You could only look on at her, confused, until she surged up and captured your face in her hands.

“Please, please touch me again! I need it-I need it!” her expression changed in a moment, from silent pain to wild and crazed desperation. Her hands were now clinging to you, pulling you down with strength you hadn’t thought she possessed. As quickly as you could, you balanced yourself with your hands on the ground and tore your face out of her grip- but not before her uncut nails nicked the sides of your cheeks. You stumbled away, running as fast as you could away from the desperate woman. She fell limp against the sand pavement of the alley, and as you looked back, you worried she might have died. But the groan she let out was enough proof of life to get you running down the street, trying your best to find the crew in the sunset haze of Teranium’s streets.

 _That’s what you get when you try to help randos on the street,_ the thought came to you before you could stop it. Now, it wasn’t like you didn’t _want_ to help her. Because you actually did, why else would you have run into a dark alley way completely alone? _Because you were stupid and didn’t know how to think your actions through._ Well, yes. But you also thought you could genuinely help her, she just turned about to be a little too much for you to handle. _‘A little’ isn’t strong enough,_ you thought again. You couldn’t help but touch your cheeks gently, feeling the familiar stinging of nicks the size of paper cuts on both sides. _Damn, she got me good. Well, as good as an unarmed alley lady could. God- I hope she didn’t have anything on her nails. Can you get sick because a weird street lady cut you with her strangely long, probably not clean, nails? Probably a good question for Ryona. Oh, speak of the devil._

Just as you rounded the next corner you caught the distinct colours of the Tilaari girl, surrounded by the rest of Andromeda Six. It wasn’t hard to pick her out of a crowd, with her luminescent blue skin and stark white hair. Not to mention Teranium wasn’t exactly known for its Tilaari population. You slowed your frantic pace to a slight jog as you caught up to the group, sliding right in with the disheveled looking group. As you did so you noticed the questioning look Damon threw your way. Of course he couldn’t just let you catch up in peace. He slowly took the place next to you in the formation, hands tucked into his jacket pockets, looking as casual as ever.

“Wondered where you got off too. Who’d you pick a fight with this time?” his smirk was so evident you didn’t even need to look at his stupidly handsome face to know it was gracing his features. You indignantly flipped your hair so it covered your cheek, pouting as your eyes scanned the detailing of the sandstone buildings as you walked on. You knew that if you looked at him straight on you’d end up losing your train of thought and he’d walk away with that arrogant swagger of his.

“None of your business.”

Damon straightened up, officially intrigued by your defiance, “But now I want it to be. You were only gone for a few minutes, so you couldn’t have caused _that_ much damage. Although I wouldn’t put it past you considering your track record.”

“Shut up. I didn’t get in a fight. If I had, I would have won,” you were being difficult and you knew it. You could have easily just told him about the woman and he would have been on his way already, but part of you wanted something to hold over him, so you could say, ‘ _ha ha, you’ll never know where I went or how I got these scratches,’_ and watch him grumble to himself as he swore that he’d find out eventually. Part of you also didn’t want to tell him because it was kind of embarrassing; what had unfolded in the alley, and part of you just wanted to keep talking to him. No matter how aggravating Damon could be, it didn’t mean you didn’t enjoy the banter that flowed between you two.

“Now _that’s_ something I’d like to see. But it’d never happen. You don’t even know how to hold a knife, let alone throw a punch, princess,” with the way he was walking, you didn’t know if he was purposely knocking into you every two seconds or not, but even if he wasn’t his words were enough to rile you up.

“I’m not as helpless as you think I am, you know,” you sneered, turning to face him and his cocky grin.

“Oh, I know. I just like imagining you helpless under me,” his voice dropped with his last sentence, whispering it into your ear and sending tingles down your spine. You felt the blush that flourished across your cheeks and knew you probably looked as red as a tomato. Gritting your teeth, you refused to scold him for saying such things in public. Instead, you decided if he was going to throw down that card then you might as well start playing his way as well.

“If that’s what you really want,” you purposefully looked down to his lips, biting your own as you did so, and dragged your gaze up to his eyes again, “you know where to find me, don’t you?” The way his eyes widened and his cheeks dusted with pink was priceless, even if it only lasted for a moment. He cleared his throat and all remnants of his surprise were wiped clear off his face, replaced instead with his usual arrogant, no fucks given, look. 

“Don’t say things you don’t mean, you might end up regretting it,” there was a pause as the two of you walked in silence for a moment, “where did you go, anyway?”

“Ah, it’s honestly not that big of a deal. There was some chick laying on the ground that I tried to help. I realized a little too late that she wasn’t worth the while and she scratched me, that’s it.” Another pause settled between you two, this time more pregnant. You were about to ask him what was wrong when his hand suddenly cupped your chin, turning your face fully to meet his. You looked up to his eyes to see him studying your cheeks intently, hooded eyes filled with something you couldn’t quite place. You hadn’t ever seen Damon look at you this way, so you didn’t know what to call it on him. As you focused on his eyes, you noticed how they were no longer staring at the cuts but rather slowly taking in your features, drinking in the way they looked up close. His sapphire eyes lingered on your lips before staring directly at your own. His gaze was piercing, a seriousness that hadn’t been present in the conversation before now holding your attention. It only lasted a moment before he was flicking your chin out of his grasp, cold eyes now on the road ahead of him, his demeanor a stark contrast to the one you had just experienced.

“You should be more careful. You don’t know what strangers like that could do to you.”

You couldn’t help but roll your eyes, ready to tell him once again how _you could handle yourself, thank you very much_ , but before you could get any words out he had already walked away from you, signaling that the conversation was very much over. 

_God, how can one person be so infuriating yet so charming?_

You kicked the sand in front of you, glaring daggers at it as if doing so would make you feel better about Damon's treatment of you. For some reason his actions today were getting to you even though this hadn’t been the worst encounter you two had had. You blamed your emotions on the heat and the stress of the alley encounter.

You marched on, walking in mostly silence, besides the chatter of the dwindling street vendors and crowds, most of which were in the process of packing up and the idle banter between the crew every few minutes. Keeping your gaze on your feet, you stopped paying attention to your surroundings as you zoned in on the way the golden sand around you would kick up every time you lifted your foot to take a step, or the soft _pat_ your foot would make when you put it down again. Entranced by each and every step, you continued walking on. You were practically mesmerized, so the feeling of being yanked backwards by your arm almost made you jump in surprise. You whipped your head up from the ground, looking straight into hazel eyes.

“Woah, hey, it’s just me,” June’s golden hand lifted off your arm slightly as he steered you back on the path the group was actually going. “I didn’t mean to startle you but I didn’t want you wandering off to who knows where. You seemed pretty deep in thought though, you feeling alright?”

You couldn’t help the gentle smile that fixed itself onto your face at June’s concern for you. The way his eyes were so focused on you, paired with the fact that his large hand was still lightly wrapped around your arm as you two walked together made something akin to butterflies stir in you. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just zoned out is all. Who knew my feet could be so interesting?” the chuckle you let out seemed to relax his concerned features slightly and he finally let go of your arm. The disappearance made you frown slightly, you didn’t know if you wanted him to let go or not, but now that his presence was officially gone you had decided you had liked it. Although by the way his muscular arm found its way through yours, you assume your disappointment didn’t go unnoticed. 

The heat that flooded to your cheeks definitely wasn’t from the fact you had been out in the sun all day, although you would have sworn it was if anyone had asked. Trying to discreetly hide the growing blush you were sporting, you turned your head into June’s bicep while keeping your eyes on the road ahead of you. You couldn’t help but notice the healthy amount of space between the two of you and the rest of the group, no doubt done by June to save yourselves from unnecessary torment from the others. _How can one man be so considerate?_

“Thank you,” the soft smile that made its way onto your face before reappeared as you couldn’t help but notice June’s kindness, “I probably would have been half way across the city by now, still staring at my feet if you hadn’t grabbed me.”

“It’s not a problem, like I said before, we can’t have you wondering off without anybody else,” you looked up at him briefly, catching his eyes for a moment as he scanned your face, his face contorting to concern as he did so. “What’s that on your cheeks? Did you hurt yourself?”

You unconsciously reached up to touch one of the cuts on your cheek, the stinging that was all but forgotten about returning somewhat. “Oh, it’s nothing. Just a stupid mistake on my part, really.”

“Okay… just make sure to wash them off once we get back. Teranium isn't the cleanest place.”

A smirk settled onto your lips as you patted June’s arm. “I’ll be fine. It’s barely a scratch.” You had to resist the urge to roll your eyes as you took your arm out from his. _You’re too paranoid for your own good_ , you thought, walking further ahead and joining the rest of the group.

It wasn’t long before you had all reached the massive ship, the sky a now darkening blue as the sun had fully set minutes ago. Once you had finally stopped to open the ship’s door, the feeling of overwhelming tiredness swept over you, and by the yawns of your crew mates, it didn’t seem like you were the only one in desperate need of sleep. One particular short haired brunette caught your eye, her head lolling back and forth as she practically fell asleep right in front of you. She cracked an eye open, her lips tilting to form a lazy smile when she noticed you staring at her. Ayame mouthed something to you, the only word you could make out was ‘tired’, so you mouthed back to her a ‘what?’, at which she sighed and shuffled closer to you. 

“I said, are you tired?” she whispered, nudging your side with the elbow that pointed outwards from her crossed arms.

You bounced your head lazily, indicating that yes, you were tired and no, you did not have the energy to actively nod your head anymore. The action made Aya giggle, the sound soft and almost raspy with the sleep you both yearned for, “looks like today was exhausting for everyone.” 

The yawn that ripped through you sent you drifting towards the pilots shoulder, your head gently connecting with a soft thud. You grumbled an agreement into her shoulder, taking advantage of your perch and shifting more of your weight onto her. She giggled again, slightly more energized now that you were being so playful with her.

“Hey, c’mon, it wasn’t that bad right? I mean, my view was pretty spectacular the entire day,” she jokingly whispered to you, picking your head up to speak directly to you. You groaned at the wink she threw your way, obviously referring to your lack of torso covering you had and were still sporting. 

“I didn’t do it on purpose! It was super hot today and I didn’t even think about it before I did it,” complaining was getting you nowhere, you realized, and as you looked to Aya you noticed the smirk that was playing on her lips.

“Well, the weather certainly wasn’t the only ‘super hot’ thing today.”

You tried hard to contain the grin that was threatening to find purchase on your lips, chuckling instead as you shook your head downwards. “You’re right, you did look pretty good today. Although talking about yourself like that is a little conceited, don’t you think?” 

She blushed at your flirting, not expecting it from you at the moment. You both shared a moment, silently giggling at each other. Every time your laughter died down, you would look up to see Ayame’s face and it would start all over again. It wasn’t long before she was leaning her head against you, mimicking your earlier action.

“God, i’m so tired. I’m going to bed,” patting your arm to signal for you to come in as well so she could shut the ship door, she walked up the elevated ramp of the ship.

As she walked away you couldn’t help but notice the way her hips slightly swayed, back and forth, and you had to rip your gaze away before she turned around at the panel for the door. She watched you for a moment before she rolled her head back in exaggeration, shutting both eyes, her mouth falling open in a perfect ‘O’ shape as she did so. Her lips were puckered just slightly, giving them a fuller, kissable look to them and- wait what?

_Kissable? Look, I’ll be the first to admit that everyone in the crew is way too good looking for a bunch of mercenaries, unfairly so, but even I don’t usually think about how ‘kissable’ their lips are. How tired am I?_

You shook your head to get the image of Aya’s plump purple lips out of your head. You needed a nap and a cold shower to reset your brain before another day of Calderon’s never ending commands for you to ‘pick up the slack’. Deciding that was exactly what you needed, you stepped onto the cold metal flooring, mentally planning out your routine. Cold shower, clean pajamas, sleep. Saying goodnight to Ayame, you could already feel the relief at how nice the water would feel on your skin after the labour intensive day you had just gone through, and you headed to your room with the thought in mind.


	2. Consequences

The entire night you were meant to be sleeping peacefully, gaining back the energy you had spent on the day before, you had spent tossing and turning, frustrating yourself at the fact you couldn’t force your mind to shut down and fade to black for a single moment. There were points where you had thought you had finally done it, where you would get to that state where everything seemed peaceful and all the pieces of rest fit together, only for your body to start back up again in a cold and uncomfortable sweat. Uncomfortable didn’t even begin to explain what you were feeling, your entire body was burning up to the touch, enhanced by the sheets you had thrown off about an hour into what should have been your sleep schedule, and you couldn’t focus on anything that wasn’t your desire to have someone put you out of your misery.

At what you thought was a reasonable hour to wake up at, late enough that you wouldn’t be stuck doing nothing but laying in your own sweat and self pity for hours but early enough that Ayame’s voice hadn’t woken everybody who wasn’t already awake up yet, you decided to at least try to relieve yourself of some of your discomfort. Your first instinct was to douse yourself in the coldest of ice showers so your body could maybe be reminded of what a normal temperature was supposed to be, and that’s exactly what you did.

The freezing cold water pelted against your skin, giving you a sort of twisted relief to your sweaty predicament. You couldn’t deny that, while the water was almost painfully cold, it was the best thing you could possibly feel at the moment. You took your time to enjoy the water rushing down your back, and finally let your mind calm itself. There was a peaceful lull as you ran your hands through your hair and down your neck, stopping at the base of it, and you couldn’t help your thoughts from wandering to the day before. How Damon had looked so intently at you, the way that his piercing blue eyes had run themselves over every inch of your face, committing your lips to his memory as if he would never get the chance to see them like that again.

Or how June’s large hands had handled you, so gently but with power you knew he held back. The way his muscular arm wound itself through your own, securing himself to your side so you could squeeze yourself against him.

Then Ayame, oh god, what couldn’t you think about Ayame? Everything about her screamed seductive. To the playful way she looked at you, her eyes dancing with mischief as she flirted blatantly, to the lipstick she wore to accentuate the curve of her mouth. Not to mention the way she swayed her hips in front of you, it was so hard _not_ to find her absolutely stunning.

Extremely inappropriate thoughts ran rampant in your mind, thoughts of your crew mates doing _things_ to you that you had never truly thought about before, not in this way. The hand that laid on your collarbone trickled down your chest like the water that flowed over you, slowly making its way down your body to scratch the itch that you were desperate to alleviate yourself of. You were so close to reaching your sweet spot when-

“Wakey wakey, crew! If you haven’t already, it’s time to get your butt out of bed and get to work!”

Ayame’s voice sounded loud and clear through the speakers, snapping you out of whatever daze you were in. The hand that had been creeping lower and lower stopped, jumping up to land on your chest as you caught your breath, startled by the vocal intrusion. You didn’t know whether to be frustrated or relieved that you had been pulled out of your thoughts so suddenly. You chose to focus on the latter emotion, weirded out at the thoughts that hadn’t really seemed like your own. Getting back to the task at hand, you turned off the water that was assaulting you with its freezing temperature and quickly dried off as best as you could so you could get dressed. It didn’t take long before you were jogging out of your room and heading towards the bridge. On your way you bumped into a familiar face. 

Smiling at the engineer, the two of you fell into step with one another, “How’d you sleep?”

“Oh god, terribly. I don’t know why but no matter what I did I couldn’t fall asleep,” you groaned, running your hands over your face.

“Oof, that’s rough. Well, if it makes you feel any better I slept fantastic,” a cheeky smile spread itself onto Bash’s face, one that you were well acquainted with after spending only a small amount of time with him. In response you playfully leered at him, sticking your tongue out at him.

“That doesn’t make me feel better, actually.” Bash’s laughter echoed through the hall of the walkway and you couldn’t help but note how attractive the engineer’s face really was. There was an urge for you to run your fingers through his hair and pull him close, but it was gone as soon as it came.

“So what’s on the agenda for you today? The capt’n got you doing anything in particular?” 

“That’s what I was on my way to find out, actually.”

“Well in that case, if you’re looking for some work to do, I could use a little bit of help going through those spare parts we found yesterday. Wanna help?” Bash asked, and in seeing your face of reluctance upon the thought of having to go through the spare parts _again_ , he added with a wink, “I swear the company is good.”

You grinned at his good natured flirting, “how could I say no when you put it like that?”

Bash pumped his fist into the air, and gestured for you to follow him as he led you to his working area. The two of you talked about this and that as you got to work, you pulled parts out of their boxes and handed them to Bash who inspected them thoroughly and explained what they all did. He sorted them into different categories based on what condition they were in, how useful they would be, and what the purpose of the part was. As you listened and watched him explain on the ground, crouched on one knee as he overlooked his piles of parts, your attention focused in on the way his muscles flexed on his one arm. Your gaze moved from the intricate tattoos that stretched beyond your sight from his exposed skin to under his shirt, to his bionic arm and the way his metal fingertips tapped absentmindedly, sometimes appearing to vibrate slowly. The thought that popped into your head was sinful, but couldn’t be stopped. Just how fast _could_ he make his arm vibrate? Could it be isolated to just a few fingers? How badly did you want him to test your theories out on you _right now._

You could feel your body slowly heating up at your thoughts, starting out a pleasant warmth that made you shiver as the feeling ran up your spine. You had completely zoned out, unaware of what Bash was saying to you, no matter how hard you tried. All you could focus on was the image of you pushed up against one of the storage crates as his cold metal fingers toyed and vibrated against you.

“...And so that’s why we can’t use parts like this anymore, it’s just too outdated. I’m amazed they still had one around, most models like these would usually be completely rusted,” Bash turned towards you, waving around the outdated part to emphasize his words. His sentence was cut short as he saw your face, extremely flushed with a sheen of sweat covering your skin. Your eyes were unfocused and glossed over, staring passed him. “Hey, are you okay? You don’t look too hot.”

You snapped out of your lustful thoughts, hooded eyes drifting to Bash as you slowly took in his words. “That’s not exactly what a girl likes to hear, you know,” your voice came out much more sultry than you intended, not that it seemed to phase Bash all that much.

“I’m serious, you look sick,” he stood up, pushing himself up off his knees, and walked towards you. The feeling of relief that shook through you when he placed the back of his hand on your forehead almost made you moan from how good it felt.

“Jesus, you’re burning up! We need to get you to Ryona,” his hand retracted from your forehead as he turned, your head following after it until you jolted back before you fell forward. You scoffed at his overreaction, following after him as he made his way to the door. 

“Bash I’m completely fine-” just as the words escaped your mouth, you felt your legs give out from under you and suddenly you could feel just how hot and dizzy you had become. Before you could hit the floor, Bash’s arms looped themselves around your torso and caught you.

“Completely fine my ass, we’re getting you to Ryona right now.” He lifted you up, cradling your body bridal style, and started for the med bay. 

Your vision was fuzzy, the walls blurring past you so fast you couldn’t comprehend where you were if you tried. When you did try, all that happened was a thumping headache that caused you to squeeze your eyes shut to try to remedy it. The bumpiness of your carrier wasn’t helping, but it’s not like you could complain. Your hands were clinging tightly onto Bash’s neck, your head cradled into his chest as you tried not to fall out of his grasp. But your desperate hold on his body wasn’t just out of fear you’d fall, but out of a compulsion to sooth the growing heat that radiated off your body. Something about the proximity made your mind run wild with thoughts no one should be having in your state, but it also dulled the feelings of the burning heat inside you. 

You panted heavily and threw your head back, letting out a loud and frustrated groan at the uncomfortable sensations that wouldn’t go away. Everything that you were feeling was ten times worse than this morning, and you couldn’t for the life of you figure out why. You couldn’t focus on a single thing, except for the way Bash’s chest and arms flexed under you, and the way you wanted them to flex _in_ you.

“Baaaaash,” you panted, curling back into his neck and wrapping yourself tighter around him.

“I know, I know. We’re almost there I swear,” his eyes were focused ahead of him, not even looking down to address you. The action, or lack of action, frustrated you even more. You wanted him to look at you and pay attention to you. Logically, you knew that if he did he might risk bumping into a wall or something, but that didn’t exactly matter to you.

Your head lulled onto his shoulder, now letting your laboured breaths fan his neck, and you looked around as best as you could. Your vision was still blurry and unfocused. You saw a blob of blue and yellow pass by before you had to screw your eyes closed again, the bombardment of lights and colours too much for your brain to handle. 

The bumpy jogging of Bash slowed to a stop, and you threw your head back again. No matter how many times you shifted or angrily tossed your head around, you still felt hot and sticky and absolutely miserable. In your foggy state of mind, you still registered the deep voice of the ship’s captain coming from your left.

“Why are you carrying her, and why is she making all those noises?” Calderon’s voice sounded harsh, but there was still worry laced between his words.

“I don’t really know, we were working and she just kinda… fell. And now she’s like this,” he readjusted his grip on you, emphasizing your current state as he did so, “can you open the door?”

“Right, yes,” the creek of the med bay doors indicated Calderon opening them for Bash and you were jostled as they made their way in.

“And to what do I owe this visit to, Bash?” Ryona’s sweet voice sounded from somewhere inside the room, followed by a curt gasp from what you assumed was the sight of you, pale and sweaty in Bash’s arms. “Set her on the chair, now.”

A few quick steps and you were being unloaded onto the examination chair, the rustling of the paper under you confirmed where you were laying. As Bash’s arms finally let go of you, the heat from your body intensified. You lurched, grunting from the explosion in your core, and gripped the sides of the chair as your knees tucked themselves into your chest.

“God, what happened to you,” you heard the Tilaari girl mumble to herself as she poked and prodded you, sometimes with her hands and other times with a cool metal object. When you felt both her hands on your shoulders to open you up from your fetal position, you latched onto her wrists. Using whatever strength you could muster, you moved them to cup your face. The relief that flooded through your cheeks was slight, but it made your mind clear for long enough to open your eyes and focus in on Ryona’s face. It was riddled with worry, her brows furrowed and lips down turned. 

“Don’t let go,” you breathed, so quiet you weren’t sure if she would be able to hear you. But with the way that her amber eyes shifted to confusion, you knew she had. Suddenly, one of her hands was feeling your forehead, and when she had decided her hand wasn’t good enough, her cheek took its place.

You almost moaned out at the contact, pushing your forehead closer to revel in the feeling of her skin and presence so close to you. And by god _was it good_ to feel her so close. She smelled _fantastic_ , the natural clean scent that filled her office stuck to her clothes and made her smell like heaven on earth. You were about to pull her closer, so her body was at least touching yours, but she pulled away and turned towards her desks before you could even lift a finger.

The cry that left you was devastating, falling back pitifully onto the unkind paper with a _hmph_. The heat slowly rose again, making you curl back into the fetal position, facing away from where Ryona had left you to whine in agony.

“One of you, go touch her,” Ryona’s command was spoken to the two confused men standing in the middle of the room. They turned to each other, matching baffled expressions on both of their faces. Bash was the first to put his hands up, backing away and gesturing to Calderon as if to say “ _she’s all yours”_.

The captain glared at Bash for only a moment before he was making his way towards the examination chair. There was an air of caution as he approached you, not quite sure what was going on with you. But nonetheless he was determined to help ease the pain that riddled your body.

Hesitantly, Calderon placed one of his hands on your shoulder, similar to where Ryona had before, and his other found its way on the top of your head. Your body was curled in on itself, facing towards the captain. As the gentle connection registered in your mind you let out a breathy whine, craning your neck so you were pushing into his hand. 

Worry knitted into Calderon’s brows as he caressed your hair, careful to keep his touch light and gentle. But the fire that was building in your abdomen demanded more to satiate the discomfort in you. You laid your hand on his torso in front of you, running your knuckles up till you reached his chest and took hold of the front of his jacket. Gently tugging on the fabric, your need clear as daylight from your actions alone.

Cal was quick to understand the gesture, adjusting your body in his hold so you were leaning against him with his arms around you. Firmly snuggled in his grasp, you took hold of the hand that wasn’t being used to keep you locked against Calderon’s body and brought it to your cheek. His hand immediately cusped your face, thumb rubbing gently back and forth in a soothing manner.

For the first time since your shower that morning, the heat that had engulfed your entire being was slowly ebbing away into nothingness. But with the absence of the heat in your body, something else took its place. A feeling that had been following you all day, one which you refused to acknowledge, for the implications that came with it could land you in extremely hot water.

Hot water that you didn’t mind being in, all things considered.

With your mind finally cleared, you fluttered your eyes open. Looking up at Calderon through your lashes, you whispered a quiet and earnest, “thank you,” while nudging into his hand. You didn’t miss the way his cheeks slightly reddened at your words, nor the small smile that followed.

“My pleasure, stowaway.”

You were about to respond to Calderon’s nickname for you when you heard the distinct sound of Ryona approaching the examination chair,

“Good to see you looking a bit better,” her words were accompanied by a sweet smile, one you would never be able to get enough of, you were sure of it.

 _Good to see you looking as fine as ever,_ you wanted to say back, but held your tongue as Ryona’s slender hands handed you a small cup and two pills.

“Take those, they’ll help the both of us,” you tilted your head in confusion but did as she said, “you can let her go Calderon.”

Had it been two minutes earlier, you would have whined at the loss of contact. But at the moment you weren’t being boiled alive by your own body, so you let his hands slide off your body without much protest. Although that didn’t stop you from taking note of the fact that Cal’s hands lingered ever slightly on your back and thigh.

“I have some theories as to what’s happening with you, but I can’t be sure until I run some tests. You’ll need to stay here until I’m done, is that clear?”

You put your hand to your forehead in a mock salute, winking to the blue skinned beauty in front of you. “Crystal.”

Ryona let out a huff of a laugh, her skin brightening at your antics. Taking the cup for your hands, she turned to Bash and Calderon, who were now standing together at the side of the room. “You two can go back to whatever it was you were doing. I’ll ring you when I figure out exactly what’s going on with her, I have a feeling we’ll all want to know how to handle this.”

The two nodded at the Tilaarian woman and headed for the door, Bash giving you a two fingered salute before heading out and back to his duties.

Ryona placed the paper cup in the small trash bin under her desk and grabbed a cart with numerous tools and gadgets on it, rolling it over to beside the chair you were laying on. As she fiddled with one metal rod in particular, you couldn’t help the playful smile on your lips.

“And then there were two,” you mused, wiggling your eyebrows at her.

Ryona shook her head, a small smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. “Oh shush, you,” she took your chin in hand and faced your head forward, prodding you with the long metal stick.

“I’m just wondering, since you’ve got me alone and all, what it is you plan on doing to me. With all those toys and such.”

Ryona’s hand loosened on your chin, and the look on her face suggested she definitely wasn’t expecting you to say something like that. The pink that dusted her cheeks suggested she may have even liked it.

“These _tools_ are for examination, not for anything _like that_ ,” you had absolutely gotten her flustered, the way she was avoiding your gaze by fidgeting with the cart and it’s utensils was evident. 

A lazy smile found its way onto your features, along with a yawn you didn’t have time to stifle. The sudden wave of fatigue that washed over you had your head falling against the seat back.

“I don’t know why I’m so tired all of a sudden,” another yawn ripped through you.

“Oh, that would be the medication I gave you, I can’t have you squirming and moaning while I try to figure out what’s wrong with you.”

You gave the medic an incredulous look, “you drugged me?”

“Yes, but to be fair they are supposed to help with the fever that is inevitably going to come back. Calderon was just a quick fix, until I can figure out exactly what’s wrong with you, it’s easiest for me to have you asleep. You’ll be thankful when you're not tossing and turning on this tiny chair while burning up.”

You had to give it to Ryona, what she was saying was making perfect sense. Whether that was the sleep that was quickly creeping up on you or actual rational sense talking, you had no idea. But from the way your eyelids were getting increasingly harder to keep open, you knew it was only a matter of time before you were going to be knocked out like a light.

\---

A high pitched beep sounded out from the device attached to Ryona’s wrist, indicating that her mast message had been delivered to the crew. She had spent the past hour or two running tests on you, trying her hardest to figure out exactly what was plaguing you. Over the hours, just as she suspected, your temperature had begun to rise slowly as she examined you. 

From what had happened before, she had hypotheses as to what could bring it down and through her tests she had reached many conclusions. One of which was, she needed to tell the entire crew about what was going on with you, because there was no way she would be able to handle it on her own. 

As each crew member made their way into the med bay, Aya, June, and Damon the most confused of the bunch, she got ready to give them the rundown of what was happening.

“Ryona, what’s going on?” June asked, eyes darting between herself and your body sleeping soundly on the examination chair.

“She came down with something, I’ll explain once everybody gets here.”

When all crew members were accounted for, Ryona began her report of what was going on.

“A few hours ago, I was greeted with Bash and Calderon barging in with an extremely delirious and fever ridden persons,” she gestured to you, “and while we were able to get her fever down momentarily, I had a feeling I would need to examine her further, so I did.

“I found that she’s contracted a virus of some kind, one that seems to be a mutated version of a pretty common one found on Teranium. So far the biggest thing to affect her is the recurring fever, it just gets higher and higher as time goes on.”

“That’s pretty serious, right? I mean, I don’t know too much about this stuff but high fevers can cause some serious damage,” Ayame piped up from beside June, her usual playful demeanour set aside, showing genuine worry and concern.

“Precisely. If she doesn’t cool down it could have lasting consequences, potentially deadly ones. Lucky for us, there seems to be a way to stop it from getting to that point.”

“Physical contact,” all heads in the room turned to Calderon, who was looking straight at Ryona for his answer.

“Yes,” Ryona nodded at the captain, dragging her gaze to meet everyone else's, ”Which brings me to my next point- why I called you all here. There needs to be someone looking after her at all times, making sure her temperature doesn’t get out of hand. I would do it, but I still need to run more tests to see if there's anything else I can do to help.”

“Wait, wait,” Damon’s hands were lifted in the air, “If we have to look after her and touch her, don’t we run the risk of getting whatever she has?”

Ryona stopped to think for a moment, crossing her arms against her chest as she did so. “I don’t think so. The virus is very, very similar to ones you’ll find all over Teranium. There’s an extremely high chance that we all have the antibodies from previous encounters of those viruses to fight off the version she has. The reason she got the virus was probably because she’s never been exposed to any Teranium viruses before.”

Finished with her explanation, Ryona gave her full attention to the crew. She studied their faces for any indication of confusion, and when she found none she began again.

“So, who’s first?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo I know most of you were probably expected smut (and you almost got it!) but I swear when I say this is the final introduction chapter! If you want to see anyone in particular for next chapter you can comment if you'd like, since from here on the plot kinda gets thrown out the window and smut takes its place ;)  
> Also i'm sorry for the brief self indulgent science lesson I put in at the end there. Was it necessary to the plot? No. Did I put it in purely because I like talking about that kind of stuff? Yes.


End file.
